David Falcke

SSAFA has awarded Flight Sergeant Harriet Hood the Sir James Gildea Global Volunteer Award for her five years of volunteering with the Salisbury Plain Serving Community Team, which supports serving personnel, reservists and their families. Hood, a Royal Air Force veteran with 22 years of service and deployments including the Falklands, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates, said she volunteers to give back after SSAFA supported her family. The article also reports on Royal Wessex Yeomanry soldiers taking part in Exercise Northern Strike in Michigan, a Royal Horse Artillery ceremonial deployment in Edinburgh for a 21-gun salute marking Queen Camilla’s birthday, and personnel transfers involving 26 Regiment Royal Artillery, 1st Royal Horse Artillery and 19 Royal Artillery.

B Squadron of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, based at Old Sarum, received the new Earl of Wessex Trophy after being judged the regiment's best squadron across competitions, tests and performance measures. The squadron has won the title for a second consecutive year. The article also highlights a Gulf War anniversary polo match involving the King's Royal Hussars and Queen's Royal Irish Hussars, the successful completion of the Nijmegen Marches by 3 Regiment Royal Military Police, and a community Clanfest held by 19 Regiment Royal Artillery.

Larkhill Garrison has opened a 2.5-hectare solar array with more than 4,000 panels, expected to generate about 1.7 GWh annually and share surplus power with nearby camps. Additional solar installations enabled the garrison to achieve 73 days of daytime energy self-sufficiency, while the project also includes a butterfly conservation area. The 26 Regiment Royal Artillery Catering Department won the Army Sustainer 2026 competition, and members of 22 Engineer Regiment undertook clay-target shotgun training to improve their ability to counter uncrewed aerial systems.

Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis visited British personnel in Estonia deployed on Operation CABRIT, observing Archer artillery, drones, military working dogs and other capabilities. The report also covers British exercises and deployments in Estonia, Lithuania, Bavaria and Weymouth, including engineering work focused on the Suwałki Corridor, fast-water diving training with Ukrainian divers, and multinational exercises involving British, Danish, US, Polish and French forces.

UK soldiers from the Household Cavalry Regiment joined French, Belgian and Polish forces for a high‑intensity multinational exercise in the Ardèche Valley, training together across varied environments and sharing equipment knowledge. Additional units conducted separate training, including Scottish gunners developing light artillery skills and personnel undergoing CBRN and battlefield procedure refreshers. An archaeological project on Salisbury Plain, linked to Operation Nightingale and the Military Recovery Centre at Tedworth House, uncovered trench features and artefacts from First World War units that once occupied the site.